This is the second poem in “women only” theme for March, and another classic:

Japanese	Romanzation	Translation
難波わ潟	Naniwa gata	To go through this life, not meeting
みじかきあしの	Mijikaki ashi no	for even as short a time as the space
ふしの間も	Fushi no ma mo	between two nodes of a reed
あはわでこの世を	Awade kono yo wo	in Naniwa Inlet—
すぐしてよとや	Sugushite yo to ya	is that what you are telling me?

The poet Ise (伊勢, c. 875- c. 938), or “Lady Ise” in English, is another celebrated female poet from antiquity. Her sobriquet comes from her father’s position as governor of the prosperous Ise Province, but she earned a name for herself through her extensive poetry both in her private collection, the Ise Shū, and through Imperial anthologies where her poetry is both frequent and prominent.

As Professor Mostow explains, the poem has two possible interpretations: one where she has been spurned by a cold lover, and the other where she cannot reveal her hidden love.

Naniwa Inlet is the bay of what is now the famous city of Osaka, though back then it was a far smaller city, with many waterways, streams and such. Naniwa (Osaka) is often associated with reeds at the time as other poems of the time show, and is mentioned in two other poems in the Hyakunin Isshu (poem 20 and poem 88).